‘Game of Thrones’ stars cried while reading the final season as their characters died one by one

We still have a long year ahead, Game of Thrones fans, because the eighth and final season of HBO’s most popular show ever won’t debut until sometime in 2019. Filming is already underway though, and production is shrouded in mystery.

However, HBO will not shy away from revealing certain details about the show, like the fact that every single one of the actors present at a table read for one of the season’s final episodes burst into tears when their characters died one by one.

These revelations came from a panel titled “The Best of HBO” at the INTV conference in Israel on Tuesday, where HBO’s senior VP of drama Francesca Orsi addressed the future of the Thrones franchise. Orsi promised that the final season will not disappoint. Referring to that table read, she said that it “was a really powerful moment in our lives and our careers,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

She continued, “None of the cast had received the scripts prior, and one by one they started to fall down to their deaths. By the end, the last few words on the final script, the tears just started falling down. Then there was applause that lasted 15 minutes.”

Who was at that table read? Well, that’s something Orsi would not say, and that’s obviously a crucial detail. It’s unlikely that all of our favorite Game of Thrones characters will die in season 8, but then again, this is Game of Thrones. As we learned in the very first episodes of the series, anything can happen on the show and no one is safe.

What we do know is that Westeros is under attack right now, as a particular horde of undead, complete with their own dragon, are marching on Winterfell. Meanwhile, Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and their armies are trying to reach the capital of the north as fast as possible, mistakenly thinking that Cersei’s own troops aren’t far behind. It’s going to be an action-packed final season for sure, and if today’s news is any indication, it’s also going to be heart-wrenching.